Swiss director Marie-Elsa Sgualdo’s “Silent Rebellion,” a period drama that follows a rape survivor’s defiant journey of self-discovery, won the top prize at the 8th Joburg Film Festival on Saturday.
Sgualdo’s feature debut tells the story of 15-year-old Emma, who’s impregnated after being raped. Defying her oppressive rural Protestant community, she embarks on a journey of self-determination, transforming her trauma into a catalyst for emancipation while confronting the moral hypocrisy of her village and the lingering shadows of World War II.
Commenting on its being awarded the Nguni Horn for best feature, JFF founder and executive director Tim Mangwedi praised the film’s “perfect pairing of an engaging narrative with striking cinematography.”
The film, which premiered in the Venezia Spotlight section at the 82nd Venice Film Festival, also scooped the prize for best cinematography, for the work of DoP Benoît Dervaux, while lead actress Lila Gueneau received a special mention from the jury for her performance.
South African directing duo Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar’s “Variations on a Theme,” which won the top prize in Rotterdam’s Tiger Competition, took home the award for best African feature. The directors’ sophomore film, which follows an elderly goat herder who falls victim to a scam promising long-overdue reparations for her father’s WWII service, was praised by Variety’s Guy Lodge following its Rotterdam triumph for its “warmly observational, literary quality” that is “lovingly attentive to language and local custom.”
The award for best documentary went to Nolitha Refilwe Mkulisi for her Rotterdam-premiering “Let Them Be Seen,” which offers a prismatic portrait of the director’s hometown of Tapoleng, a small village in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. Best editing went to Czech director Ondřej Provazník’s #MeToo drama “Broken Voices,” edited by Anna Johnson Ryndová.
The award for best short film went to Tevin Kimathi and Millan Tarus’s “Stero,” while best student film went to George Temba’s “The Silent Inheritance” and Khaya Dube’s “Umxoxiso” won the Young Voices Competition. Veteran South African producer Harriet Gavson also earned a special recognition at Saturday night’s awards gala.
The festival jury was comprised of producer Cait Pansegrouw (“This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection,” “The Wound”); producer Bongiwe Selane (“Happiness Is a Four-Letter Word”); producer and director Sia Stewart (“Why Not Us: Southern Dance”); filmmaker and Septimius Awards founder Jan-Willem Breure; Berlinale curator and World Cinema Fund jury member Dorothee Wenner; and programmer Keith Shiri, founder of Africa at the Pictures.
The 8th Joburg Film Festival wraps March 8 with the world premiere of “The Trek,” a western-horror from first-time director Meekaaeel Adam.
This year marked the JFF’s biggest edition yet, with festival curator Nhlanhla Ndaba saying organizers received a record 770 submissions from nearly 100 countries before whittling down the final selection to 60 films.
At the festival’s opening ceremony, Ndaba acknowledged the difficult context within which this year’s edition was taking place, while also reminding the filmmakers in attendance that their voices remain as vital as ever.
“This festival happens at the moment when the world feels anything but nuanced — at the moment when artists are being asked: Should you speak or should you stay silent?” Ndaba said. “At the Berlinale we witnessed a fierce debate about whether filmmakers should engage in politics. It was suggested that artists should stay away from politics because films are a counterweight to politics.
“The Joburg Film Festival has always been a space where politics and artistry meet, where the African continent and the world connect, where politics are just but another story. Where we don’t pretend that storytelling happens in a vacuum,” he continued. “The moment we stop reflecting the world in all its beauty and in all its brokenness, it’s the moment we stop being relevant.”
The Joburg Film Festival runs March 3 – 8 in Johannesburg.
